Cairns election: Labor commits $11.5m for youth rehabilitation centre
Labor has announced $11.5 million funding to build a new health facility aimed at striking at the strung-out heart of youth crime in Cairns.
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LABOR has announced $11.5 million funding to build a new health facility aimed at striking at the strung-out heart of youth crime in Cairns.
Health Minister Steven Miles has committed to building a dedicated 10-bed youth alcohol and other drugs residential rehabilitation and treatment service in the city.
“It will be a full wrap-around service – psychosocial counselling, other forms of psychosocial intervention, peer support, elder-led Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander supports as well,” he said.
“This will assist people from here in Cairns and the wide region to get on top of their drug addictions so that they can get back to living a normal life, get back into work, get back into their family and their community, get off the drugs that are affecting them.
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“It will create 33 jobs in construction, it will be a 24-7 facility, and it will provide pre and post-care, so care for those not currently in the residential facility, but those preparing to be treated in the residential facility, and those that have been treated, with ongoing counselling.”
The site of the centre is yet to be determined but Mr Miles, speaking from Cairns, said it was unlikely to be within the overcrowded Cairns Hospital precinct.
“They usually take a couple of years to build, so we’ll get into it just as fast as we can,” he said.
“I think it’s more likely to be in a community-type location but we’ll work on that detail.
“As you know, the real estate here is pretty valuable.”
Cairns MP Michael Healy said he and other Far North MPs had been hammering away at the health minister to get the project over the line.
“We know that substance abuse, particularly amongst our youth, is a curse and is corrosive to our community,” he said.
“This is in addition to the other commitments that we’ve been making.
“We will be buying land for the university hospital, we are currently seeing development (worth) $70 million for mental health, we have committed over $26 million to the expansion and upgrading of the emergency department, in addition to over $20 million in upgrading to other facilities in our hospital.
“This money has been allocated and it’s ready to go and it’s something that our community needs.”
Barron River MP Craig Crawford the service would give young people across North Queensland greater access to health care closer to home.
“Improving access to appropriate alcohol and other drug treatments for young people can reduce the impact substance use can have on individuals, their families and the community,” he said.
Originally published as Cairns election: Labor commits $11.5m for youth rehabilitation centre